Friday, May 30, 2014Kiffin is very impressed with his RBs
By Edward Aschoff

In the past, Lane Kiffin has proven to be someone who knows how to cast aside boring, sleep-inducing coach speak for some fresh -- sometimes controversial -- dialogue when talking football. Sometimes it's gotten him in trouble, but it's always been nice to see someone not afraid to actually speak his mind.

T.J. Yeldon, who rushed for 1,235 yards and 14 TDs in 2013, is part of a deep and talented group of Alabama running backs.

On Thursday night, Alabama's new offensive coordinator spoke loud and clearly in Mobile, Ala., about the loaded running backs stable he's working with in Tuscaloosa. While speaking at the DEX Imaging 20th annual L'Arche Football Preview, Kiffin discussed the Crimson Tide's offense and talked about how he's injected some of his own philosophies into Alabama's offensive scheme.

The one thing that won't be changing is how the running backs dictate the Tide's offense.

"As you guys know extremely well, I think the offense is led by the tailbacks," Kiffin said. "... There probably aren't three more talented tailbacks in the NFL on a roster than we're fortunate to be able to work with at Alabama."

That's pretty high praise for Alabama's trio that consists of juniors T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake, and sophomore Derrick Henry. That's a cool 2,311 yards and 25 touchdowns from last season. Of course, Yeldon led the way with 1,235 yards and 14 touchdowns, but he won't have to worry about being the main workhorse this fall with Drake back and the recent emergence of Henry, who really has what it takes to grab the majority of the carries this fall.

"Finishing his true freshman year at 245 pounds, running 4.4, that was really easy to come in and see that it'd be good to give him the ball," Kiffin said of Henry, who totaled 161 total yards of offense and two touchdowns during his breakout performance against Oklahoma in Alabama's bowl game.

While Yeldon and Henry have captured most of the headlines this spring, Drake is still around, and he still has the kind of skill that could frustrate defenses next season. He rushed for 694 yards and eight touchdowns last fall, while averaging 7.5 yards per carry along the way. He's the most elusive of one in the trio and adds a totally different element to Alabama's attack.

What he has to do is make sure he doesn't get in his own way when it comes to earning carries this fall. His focus has to improve going forward.

Earlier this week at the SEC spring meetings, Saban was asked if he found his best running back coming out of the spring. To him, he felt like he found three.

"I'd rather look at it like we have three really good running backs; I think all a little bit different in style," Saban said. "They've all been pretty productive at some point in a game and I don't think it's necessary to compare them at all. They all work hard, do a good job, want to do what's best for the team, and I think they can all contribute in a very positive way to our team."